A number of different standards for wireless communication of voice and/or data have been proposed. For example, various standards based on code division multiple access (CDMA) techniques have been proposed, such as the cdma2000 family of specifications advanced by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). The cdma2000 specifications have included various revisions to support high rate packet data air interface communications, an approach that is often referred to as Evolution Data-Optimized (EVDO). The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has issued various types of standards for wireless communications. For example, the IEEE 802.11 series of standards relate to wireless local area network communications and have been implemented in Wi-Fi wireless communication protocols. The IEEE 802.16 series of standards relate to wireless broadband communications and have been implemented in WiMAX wireless communication protocols. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) series of standards, as well as a set of enhancements that are described as Long Term Evolution (LTE).
In response to the growing diversity of wireless communication standards, the IEEE developed the 802.21 standard for “Media Independent Handover Services.” The 802.21 standard defines mechanisms that can be used for handovers between heterogeneous IEEE 802 networks and handovers between IEEE 802 networks and non-IEEE 802 networks. However, the IEEE 802.21 standard leaves undefined many of the specifics for how to handle such handovers.